Sliceable product carriage for a slicing machine

Abstract

The sliceable product of an automatic slicing machine is advanced toward the stop plate by a slider which is engaged on both sides of the receiving surface for the sliceable product by respective belt drives.

I claim: 
     
       1. A food slicer comprising: a housing;   a one-piece trough-shaped carriage defining a path on the housing and having   a base defining a receiving surface adapted to hold a food article to be sliced and   a pair of upwardly open hollow side walls flanking the base and extending transverse to the path;   a blade on the housing defining a blade plane parallel to the path;   a stop surface on the housing extending parallel to the blade plane but spaced therefrom by a desired slice thickness;   a slider which is displaceable in a direction transverse to the blade plane on the carriage respective and having a pair of ends above the carriage side walls;   respective endless drive belts mounted in the carriage side walls movable in a direction transverse to of the blade plane;   means including respective couplings engaged vertically between each of the drive belts and the respective slider end for connecting the slider ends to the respective drive belts; and   means including a common electric drive motor for synchronously advancing the belts toward the blade plane, whereby the slider pushes the food article on the receiving surface toward the blade plane.   
     
     
       2. The food slicer defined in claim 1 wherein the common drive motor is an electric motor provided with respective toothed wheels over which the belts are spanned. 
     
     
       3. The food slicer defined in claim 2 wherein the electric motor has a shaft extending parallel to the slider and perpendicular to the walls and the respective toothed wheels are mounted on opposite ends of the shaft in the hollow housing side walls. 
     
     
       4. The food slicer defined in claim 1, further comprising a controller connected to the motor for shutting off the motor upon the slider encountering an obstacle in advance toward the stop surface so as to halt the slider upon impeding of the advance by a hand of an operator or an encounter with the stop surface.   
     
     
       5. The food slicer defined in claim 1, further comprising rolling elements on the carriage forming the receiving surface for reducing friction between the product and the carriage.   
     
     
       6. The food slicer defined in claim 5 wherein the carriage is provided with a removable frame carrying the rolling elements. 
     
     
       7. The food slicer defined in claim 1 wherein each of the walls is formed with a vertically throughgoing slot extending perpendicular to the plane and through which the couplings extend. 
     
     
       8. The food slicer defined in claim 1 wherein the slider is generally T-shaped. 
     
     
       9. The food slicer defined in claim 1 wherein the couplings include respective upwardly open sockets carried on the drive belts and respective downwardly projecting coupling elements carried on the slider ends and engageable in the respective sockets.